CNet (they do good reporting!) mentions in a test of Office Live yesterday that the Microsoft offerings include not only free hosting and email, but as well to sweeten the pot (and complete the trifecta), free domain registration.

(actually, its more like a quad-recta — other free swag looks to include some basic analytics software).

As I mentioned yesterday, it looks like Microsoft looking towards building a suite of products that extend beyond the usual suite of office type applications.

Reasonable hosting/ service fees … free swag to get you through the door.  What’s the bad in all of this?

More to come I’m sure with the public beta, but because the vast majority of applications use ActiveX, most of their offerings will probably only be useful in Internet Explorer.

Look for the Geek community to poo-poo Microsoft’s attempt at fighting back; I suspect, however, that the attempt at Office Live isn’t really aimed at die hard web app wonks, or really, any serious small business concern who wants to have a web presence.
Its probably aimed at the local mom and pop stores who want to get their feet wet — and if this is the case, they’ll probably do all right. 

[Addendum: Other people to Poo-poo Microsoft attempt?  Probably domain registration companies]